Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Michelle Rhee: Chicken?

Michelle Rhee’s call this morning at 10:25 on Twitter, saying “I’m around for a bit, does anyone have any questions for me?” was like dumping pretzels on a beach filled with hungry seagulls.

The Twitterverse lit up with questions that came fast and furious, and overwhelmingly from critics of Rhee, the former D.C. schools chancellor and current lightning rod for issues around school reform.

“What are good ways to teach kids cheating is wrong when you’ve been caught doing it yourself?” one questioner asked, referring to allegations of systemic cheating on standardized tests during Rhee’s tenure as chancellor from 2007 to 2010.

“Since your donors include folks that profit from your agenda, how exactly are you helping school kids?” asked another, referring to Rhee’s political advocacy group, StudentsFirst, which is trying to influence education policy at the state level.

“What do you do for fun now that you don’t get to fire principals & teachers anymore?” asked another tweeter.

“What is your favorite part about being a union buster?” read another.

How many educators do you know who are available to tweet in the middle of a morning on Wednesday? I mean, besides Steve Perry...

Is Rhee so obtuse she didn't know teachers would be right in the middle of work in most of the country? Or does she prefer to make her offers to answer questions when she knows teachers won't be available?

Just asking...

* At 11:30 tonight, my view of Rhee's tweet in her timeline said "13hr." So we can safely assume "10:35 AM" is for Eastern Standard Time. Which means 7:30 AM Pacific: yeah, a great time for West Coast teachers to tweet...